When you can’t weed, it’s time to read

Paul Rogers Roots of Wisdom

Sunday

Nov 29, 2009 at 3:17 AM

The winter season is fast approaching. How does a gardener survive the winter without his hands in the soil? It’s easy — simply place your head in a book and garden with your mind. Explore facets of gardening, growing and designing that you haven’t had the knowledge, space or energy to execute in your yard.

Every dedicated gardener has a “winter garden” of books. You but need to only decide on an area of interest. It is a rare facet of gardening that has not been well-explored by exceptional garden writers sometime, somewhere. As the traditional gift-giving season coincides with this time — the need to read, research and learn — consider selecting a book or two, or three, that you would like to receive as well as a book to share with a gardening friend.

Visit the bookstores at Tower Hill Botanic Garden and the New England Wildflower Society and peruse their fine collections. The Northeast is blessed with many fine bookstores. Take advantage of their offerings. Write for the catalogs of Daedalus Books, P.O. Box 6000, Columbia, MD 21045 and Edward R. Hamilton Bookseller Co., Falls Village, CT 06031-5000.

They offer new books at reduced prices.

Books I am currently enjoying include Julie Moir Messervy’s latest, “Home Outside, Creating the Landscape You Love,” published by Taunton Press and selling for $30. The pictures are superb. The line drawings clearly illustrate the points raised by Julie. She is an excellent landscape designer and a master communicator. Plumbing the depths of this one book could require an entire winter of studying and dreaming. If you enjoy her style, delve into her other books.

Another author whose style, expertise and writings are totally engaging is William Cullina, formerly with the New England Wildflower Society and now serving as the plant and garden curator of the Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens. If you are interested in native plants, Cullina’s books are the best that you can find. His knowledge is extensive, and his approach is beguiling. It is readable to the max!

“Understanding Perennials, A New Look at an Old Favorite,” published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt and selling for an extremely reasonable $40, is not just another book on perennials. From him, you learn of their wants, needs and potential. Read Cullina and you will establish a relationship with plants. Beautifully illustrated, this is perhaps his best book to date.